Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that as Denzel
Washington gets older he's playing more and more characters with killer
instincts? In SAFE HOUSE, Washington once more plays a character that you hope
you never find tracking you down or waiting in your home.
The film opens with Washington meeting a member of MI6,
Britain's spy agency, and receiving a microchip filled with information.
Heading to the bathroom of the restaurant they're in, he injects it into his
hip. When the bad guys come knocking on the restroom door Washington dispatches
them with ease and escapes. The MI6 agent picks him up in his car but before
they can get away he's shot. Washington makes his escape to the American
consulate and turns himself in.
We discover that Washington's name is Tobin Frost, an ex-CIA
agent who went off the grid and has been selling secrets to various
organizations around the world. Considered a traitor, the consulate turns out
to be in South Africa and he's to be taken to a safe house until a team can get
to him and "extract" information from him.
The safe house is operated by a fairly new agent named Matt
Weston (Ryan Reynolds). It's his first assignment with the CIA and he wants to
impress, to move forward. He gets his chance when the information team arrives
closely followed by the hit squad that was chasing Frost to begin with. They
take out the team but before they can take Frost, Weston escapes with him only
to be tracked down. They eventually escape but you know this assassination team
will eventually find them.
Calling in, Weston is told that he needs to move forward to
another location and pick up the means necessary to get Frost to another safe
house in South Africa. After picking up the package with various items he needs
at lockers in a crowded soccer stadium, Frost causes a scene claiming he's been
kidnapped. The security believes him and ignores Weston's pleas only to have
Frost kill his guards and escape. Weston follows suit and continues his chase
of Frost.
But there's more going on here than a simple chase film. The
movie is also about what caused Frost to become who he is today and watches as
Weston alters from a totally innocent and naive agent into something much more
deadly. The fact that Frost has a background in psychological warfare makes the
viewer wonder is he just trying to mess with Weston's head or is he trying to
help he get a view of the bigger picture? The answer to that question isn't
offered until near the end of the film.
Another question that runs through the film is the fact that
somewhere in the CIA there is a traitor. How is it that the assassination team
knew where the safe house was? How have they been able to track down Frost as
he moves from place to place? And who gave them the information that led them
to him at the beginning of the film? As viewers we wonder about these
questions. As a participant, Weston must try and find the answers to these
questions as well, never knowing who is an ally or foe.
The film moves at a frantic pace with tons of car chases,
gun fights and hand to hand combat sequences. Unlike the spy films of the past,
people actually get shot, stabbed and bleed. There is a touch more realism here
than spy films past. But that goes hand in hand with the story of undeserved
loyalty and questions of deciphering who exactly the bad guy is.
Washington has never been better. There are subtle plays at
work here he delivers that make you wonder if Frost is good, bad or
indifferent. The answer is found by the end of the film. Reynolds does an
equally great job portraying an innocence in his character that gets jaded as
the film progresses. How he ends up, what he will become is also answered by
the end of the film.
Most films like these today are compared less with Bond and
more with Jason Bourne. This film is grittier than the Bourne films and much
more so than the Bond series. It will hold your attention and have you guessing
from start to finish as to what is actually on the microchip that Frost has
possession of. It delivers the goods from start to finish an is well worth
taking the time to sit back, watch and enjoy.
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